Members of the International Union of Gas Workers on August 14 overwhelmingly rejected the latest contract offer proposed by Washington Gas Light Co., as the utility's lockout of the 1,050 workers in Washington, D.C., and parts of Maryland and Virginia enters its third month. The company distributes natural gas to more than 750,000 customers in the capital city area.
In an effort to entice workers to approve the utility's contract offer, the company offered a special return-to- work proposal that would give each union worker a $750 bonus and restore some medical benefits.
According to James Mort, president of the International Union of Gas Workers, 89 percent of union members rejected the contract offer, an even higher percentage than rejected the company's original proposal in June. "It seems to me our people are getting stronger and more determined than ever," stated Mort.
The utility's offer would allow the company to transfer workers regardless of seniority and to hire unlimited numbers of contractors and part-time employees. The gas company also demanded that the union withdraw its charges of unfair labor practices filed with the National Labor Relations Board.
Negotiations are continuing.
Brian Williams
Washington, D.C.
Cancel third world debt
In the May 25 issue of the Journal of Commerce, a four- page advertising supplement appears called "Argentina: Trade and Investment."
Carlos Alfaro, head of the Argentine-American Chamber of Commerce in New York, explains to the Journal the point of raising taxes, slashing government programs, and cutting wages: "These measures have the purpose of ensuring that foreign debt will be honored, that credit and the financial sector are able to recover, and that confidence in the Argentine economy is regained. At the same time, they aim at leaving behind the fear of devaluation and are an evidence of the support of the econmomic program in Washington."
As a result of [President Carlos] Menem's "monetary stability and fiscal discipline," the Journal reports, Argentina has now received a total of $7 billion in loans from the IMF, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and Japan's Eximbank.
A major part of the antilabor offensive in Argentina, as in other semicolonial countries, has been the wave of privatizations in key sectors of the economy. Last year in Argentina, the five huge terminals that comprise the Port of Buenos Aries were turned over to private companies. Rafael Conejero, undersecretary of Ports and Waterways for Argentina, bragged in another article, "The problems we used to face with labor, regulations, and high costs are no longer a reality."
I don't know how much the imperialists believe their own propaganda. But the "problems with labor" that Conejero refers to are part of the reality that the bloodsucking class must confront, in Argentina and elsewhere.
The Militant coverage of the resistance of Argentine workers underscores the importance of the U.S. labor movement taking up the question of the third world debt.
Bill Kalman
Des Moines, Iowa
Prison conditions
I am writing an article about the Iowa State Penitentiary and prisons around the world (see below).
I was sent to prison at 14 years of age, and have been locked up for over five years. ISP is one of the most constitutionally incorrect institutions in the United States and I am out to prove it.
Also I am currently in lockup with no way of obtaining funds, but would like a copy of your paper.
Thank you for your help in my struggle.
Unjustifiable
ISP (Iowa State Penitentiary) has been allowed to
continue with its ethically and humanely incorrect blatant
disregard for human rights far too long.
Society has been blinded by the words of prison officials and I feel it is my duty to put the record straight.
We are all aware of the prison cycle. The fact is that most men who have been to prison shall return.
Prison spokespersons tend to blame the cycle on bad upbringing. They tend to blame the problem on the convict for lack of willpower.
They fail to connect or associate the cycle with the treatment we receive while incarcerated. they fail to see we are capable of memory.
If you raise a dog. If you cage him and chain him. If you starve him and beat him. If you never show him he is special or love him. If you take away the chain and the cage, do you expect him to be tame? Do you expect him to love or show affection? Of course not.
This is the way which prisons are being run, the way the convict cycle is allowed to continue.
To make a change the prison officials and the handling of convicts must be changed. Someone has to remove the foot which lays upon the neck of every prisoner and embrace him and love him.
Someone has to be responsible for the spending of tax dollars in this nonconstructive, unacceptable way which is currently used.
A prisoner
Fort Madison, Iowa
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